CLEVELAND -- People loved to hate Cleveland's traffic cams. On Tuesday, voters got the last word, overwhelmingly deciding to pull the plug on them.
Mayor Frank Jackson said, "The people have spoken."
Cameras went out of commission after midnight. Tickets issued on Tuesday must still be paid.
The city must decide how to restructure its traffic enforcement efforts. Will it move police from other duties?
"If I take an officer out of enforcement for gun suppression and put them in a school zone or at traffic lights, do I take them off of responding to 9-1-1 calls?" Jackson asked.
Safety Director Michael McGrath said a plan is likely to deploy some police at school zones, problem intersections and "hot spots."
McGrath believes voters made the wrong call.
"I know the cameras were a definite safety benefit to the city of Cleveland, " he said.
Asked if lead-footed drivers should consider it open season in Cleveland, McGrath said, "Absolutely not,"
The city must also figure how out to figure out an almost $6 million budget hole created by the loss of camera revenue.
City hall had no exact timetable for the cameras physically coming down.
Channel 3 observed one mobile unit on St. Clair Avenue being hauled away, apparently by a private contractor working for Xerox, the cameras' owner.
The city is obligated to pay Xerox for camera rental as long as it's still making money. Amounts and details are still being negotiated. But the city is still making money as long as revenue from past tickets is still being collected.
